O Fortuna has a fanart section on my profile! Check it out! And if you want to be added/taken off the list, just let me know. :)

On a more serious note, I've seen a lot of SYOCs popping up in the Dangan Ronpa archive lately. I hope these people know what they're getting themselves into because writing murder mysteries complete with evidence is no easy task. X_X And I don't know whether people writing those will see this or not but I really have no idea where else to put it…but it seems like people are using my profile. I gave Ginger permission to use it cause we cool yo and I guess it spread from there, but I would like to say that the profile was specifically created for my story. Some of those categories are motives. ^^' And I would strongly encourage people to create their own motives for the sake of originality. That is all!

Alistair was currently invested in Elaine's journal. He sat alone in an armchair, flipping through each page with a calm expression. Gustav stood nearby, casting him curious glances. He departed the conversation he had been sharing with Noah, who marched off looking offended. But the actor was intent on asking his roommate a question.

"Did she write about me?" Gustav asked, pointing to himself with both hands and smiling.

Alistair lifted his eyes and studied Gustav for a long moment.

Gustav blinked. "What? Is my makeup smeared?" He wondered, poking at his face.

"No." Alistair murmured, "And yes, she did write about you. Are you certain you want to hear it? These entries aren't exactly uplifting."

"Yeah, I wanna hear it!" Gustav said cheerfully, though something nagged at the back of his mind. Something that told him, ignorance is bliss. But he shook it off and grinned as Alistair searched for the correct entry. As he did so, the two became aware that everyone else had quieted down dramatically. They were listening in.

When Alistair found the page, he stared at it for a long moment. Then he sighed and read, "'I'm inclined to believe that Gustav has some sort of dependent personality disorder. Maybe not completely, but he shows signs of it. He's very clingy and exceedingly childlike, but otherwise, there are no other symptoms. Perhaps he's just been raised in abnormal conditions.'" Alistair turned the page, casting a meaningful glance at Gustav as he did so. "Do you wish me to continue?"

Gustav's eyes were wide and unseeing, his large lips parted. He barely managed a nod.

Alistair read on: "'My conjecture is that he never experienced a normal childhood, due to being a child actor. He was never able to spend time with his parents and was always on the move, yet he constantly craved their attention. This may be the reason why he acts like a child…he's trying to make up for lost time.'"

Everyone had fallen silent by now. Gustav stood in the same spot, blinking repeatedly. He was quiet for once in his life.

"…Is it true?" Alistair asked, lifting his eyebrows inquisitively.

Suddenly, Gustav's normal demeanor broke free. A huge grin spread across his face and he laughed, "Of course it's true, silly! Then again, maybe it's not! Maybe I'm just not ready to grow up!" He performed a neat twirl, then bounced off to speak with someone else.

Alistair merely narrowed his eyes, lost in thought. His acting skills are beyond compare, He acknowledged, No wonder he was invited to attend St. Fortuna's.

Still, he had seen Gustav's act slip for just a moment. Yes, he was still a child at heart. But he was not as carefree as he seemed.

With everyone distracted by Gustav's stint, Teresa was able to back Charlie into a corner and speak to him privately. He seemed flattered at the close contact. Teresa was right up in his face, trying to appear intimidating.

"What's this?" Charlie teased, "Feeling a little doubtful of your prosecuting skills so you're trying to get in one last make out session before we all bite the dust?"

Teresa bit back a furious retort. Instead, she matched his easy smile and moved a little closer. "Oh, Charlie…" She said in a teasing voice, leaning in to whisper directly into his ear, "I know you're hiding something. You can't hide it forever."

"Can't I…?" Charlie mused, very much enjoying how things were playing out.

"No. You can't," Teresa said, daintily slipping her fingers around his wrist. Without warning, she squeezed it with all her might, digging her nails into his skin. She saw Charlie cringe slightly. The humor vanished from his eyes for a brief moment. But he quickly regained himself and smirked.

"All right," He decided, "I guess it's about time I stepped in to play the hero, huh?"

"Don't flatter yourself." Teresa said through gritted teeth, keeping a firm hold on his wrist and twisting it, "Hiding evidence from the court is not heroic—it's illegal. Don't make me punish you for it."

Charlie laughed, "Whoa, it's getting hot up in here! Do I get to pick the manner of punishment?"

Everyone was beginning to look in their direction. Charlie soaked up the attention, but Teresa didn't want them knowing what was happening. She let go of Charlie's wrist and turned away. "…Just don't forget what I said." She said in a light voice, giving him an innocent smile.

Charlie rubbed his wrist, looking relaxed. "I gotcha, babe."

Finally, Monobear called them back into the room and they took their places at their separate podiums. Teresa was looking at Charlie intently, but he didn't look back. His eyes were narrowed at the ground. She opened her mouth to call him out, but someone else spoke up before she could.

"I've been thinking…" Kirby said quietly, "Are we going about this the right way? What if there are two murderers…it's possible, isn't it?" She looked to Monobear awkwardly.

He nodded. "Definitely possible!"

"I have enough of a hard time believing one of us would kill." Reeta muttered. "Now you're saying it could be two?"

"Well…Libra turned her camera off. So only Natalie and I have solid alibis during Karah's murder. Right?"

"Hm?" Asui said, looking suspiciously at Carter, "What about him? He was with you, wasn't he?"

Carter was silent for a long moment. Finally, he spoke slowly, "I left their dorm…around 1 AM, I believe. I went straight back to mine to go to bed."

"Then that makes you a suspect for the second murder." Teresa said flatly.

"Wait just a minute!" Kirby cried out. "I'm positive Carter didn't do it! He's not—"

"No. We have to treat these murders as separate cases, just like you said. There could have been two culprits." Teresa explained, shooting Kirby a glance that silenced her. "Be grateful you and Natalie have alibis."

"Wait." Carter interrupted. His voice was soft, but it demanded attention. He had just remembered an important detail. "You can cover for me…Asui." He turned his hazel eyes on hers.

Teresa felt a twinge of surprise. "What do you mean?"

Carter looked back to the prosecutor. "I nearly forgot…I passed Asui on the way back to my room, on the first floor."

Teresa's eyebrows lifted. "Asui? But she claimed to have been at the party for the entirety of the night."

Asui visibly scowled. Now everyone was looking at her with those accusing eyes. It was a horrid feeling. "Fine! I lied!" She confessed, "Elaine asked me to walk her home, but I came back right away. I didn't say anything because I didn't want you to suspect me! Because if you condemn the wrong person then we're all…we're all…"

"We understand," Kirby said kindly, "But you still shouldn't lie like that. We need nothing but the truth here."

Asui held back a few choice words and closed her eyes, waiting for her stomach to stop churning. "I'm sorry," She whispered, voice trembling.

"…What time did Elaine leave the party, again? Didn't she leave early?" Reeta wondered, but no one answered. No one could remember and it wasn't shown on the film, though Elaine was last showed on camera a while before she died. Her final scene was when she was on the dance floor, talking to Karah—

"Asking her to walk her home!" Grant yelped. Everyone looked at him. He chuckled and pumped the air with his fist. "I think I remember! Elaine was out on the dance floor with us…I kinda knocked her over…but I think she left after that! And Karah told her to have someone walk her home."

Asui rolled her eyes. "Congratulations, we already established I walked her home when I said it ten seconds ago."

Grant waved a hand. "That's not the point! I meant to say that you walked her home an hour or two before she was killed, right? So why were you still hanging around the dorm when Karah was killed?"

A hush fell over the students.

Asui could feel her stomach roiling again. Through gritted teeth, she hissed, "You're just lashing out at whoever is the least bit suspicious, aren't you? Well, what about all of that evidence stacked up against Robin? I might have told a few white lies, but you still don't have any evidence against me!"

"And that's where you're wrong."

Everyone looked to where Charlie stood, three spots down from Asui. He was reaching into the pocket of his custom-tailored suit, eyes darting about the room. Every face was turned towards him, waiting to see what he would say. He offered them one last smile before pulling the item out of his pocket with a grand flourish.

"Behold, the most important piece of evidence: the murder weapon." Charlie said smoothly, turning the little knife in his hands. It caught the many lights of the courtroom, causing the dried blood to gleam. "If you only had looked a little harder, like myself, you would have found this hiding in the janitor's closet. Can anyone tell me what this is?"

"A scalpel, of course." Noah answered instantly, "You know, I saw them use one of those babies for surgery in Africa. No painkillers or anything—just a stone-cold blade. Sometimes we don't know how good we have it until we visit a 3rd world country."

Charlie tried to refrain from rolling his eyes. Noah would not steal this moment from him. He thrust the scalpel in Natalie's direction. "That's right. Scalpels are used for surgery. So I'm sure a veterinarian would have easy access to this kind of murder weapon—am I right?"

Natalie bit her lip. "B-but I have an-an-an alibi!" She gasped, nearly falling off her podium as she took a step back.

Charlie laughed. "I know, I was just messin' with ya!"

"Rude." Reeta muttered under her breath, shaking her head angrily.

Charlie ignored her. "There's someone else here who might use a scalpel in their line of work. Right, Grant?"

"Dude, I had an alibi too. At least for Elaine's murder." Grant said, beginning to sweat. "You saw me on camera."

"This isn't Elaine's murder weapon. This was used to slit Karah's throat." Charlie answered, but his eyes were flicking towards someone else. "But there's one more person that would have used one of these. Not for surgery or dissection…but for art."

"Asui," Teresa confirmed, looking directly across the courtroom towards the suspect, "And she wasn't spotted on camera during Elaine's murder."

"But I was there!" Asui burst out defensively, "Besides, anyone could have gotten their hands on a scalpel! I bet they're not so hard to come by in the Arts Building."

Carter spoke up. "The Arts Building is locked, remember?"

"It's not mine!" Asui said wildly, looking about the room. Her gaze settled on Libra, who had the camera pointed in her direction. Her temper flared. "Libra could have stolen it from my room, followed Karah back, and slit her throat with a scalpel!"

Libra lowered the camera, matching her roommate's enraged expression. "So which is it?" She growled. "You just said it's not yours!"

"Carter, did Asui appear very suspicious when you crossed paths with her last night?" Teresa asked, ignoring the roommate spat and turning back to the archaeologist.

His eyes widened. "Now that I think about it…she was pushing a trolley."

"I was transporting art supplies into the basement," Asui said quickly, "My room was overcrowded."

"Wait," Charlie cleared his throat, raising a hand for silence. Of course, everyone gave it to him. "I have another crucial piece of evidence."

"Then by all means, please share with us." Teresa said impatiently.

Once again, Charlie was milking this moment for all it was worth. He swept his gaze around the room, murmuring, "Unfortunately, I could not bring this with me, so you'll just have to take my word for it. But there was something else I found in the janitor's closet, along with the murder weapon. The tool box had been opened." He paused, waiting for some sort of reaction.

"…So?" Blake wondered, giving it to him.

Charlie went on, "Something was missing. A screwdriver. Now, what could a screwdriver possibly be used for? Is there anything in the case we could connect it to?"

His question was met with little response. Everyone was thinking hard. Blake made a wild guess about using it to break into Elaine's room, but they had already established it hadn't been tampered with. When Charlie could see they weren't getting anywhere, he decided to help them out.

"Well, I might have a guess…and this is purely hypothetical, but let's go back to talking about the stain. We all thought Robin had a lapse in IQ and wiped blood on the ceiling, right?"

Everyone muttered a confirmation. Robin gave an audible snort.

"But what if that's not the case. What if it leaked down from above?"

Realization seemed to dawn on everyone at once. It showed on their faces. Teresa refused to let it show on hers. She was highly disgruntled that Charlie was stealing the show. He didn't deserve this sort of praise, when he had hidden evidence from the court during the first half of the trial.

"Perhaps you're right and there is a leaky drain in the room above," Alistair spoke up, "Perhaps the criminal dumped blood down the sink or shower. But that still has nothing to do with the missing screwdriver."

Charlie gave a dramatic sigh. "I guess I have to explain everything, don't I? You sure are lucky to have me! Anyways, here's what my brilliant mind has surmised…"

Frustration flickered in Alistair's eyes, but he stayed silent.

Charlie began by explaining that he believed Elaine's murder was premeditated, but Karah's was not. As Grant said, the culprit put paper on the ground to soak up the blood for one reason or another—most likely, they wanted to move the crime scene somewhere they could pin it on Blake. Elaine was killed, but then Karah showed up. The first plan was abandoned and the paper could not be left at the crime scene or else it would betray who had been there. The trolley was used to transport it to the culprit's room…where they stuffed the paper down the drain.

After that, Charlie directly addressed Asui. "…I do hope you're not running low on paper. Don't artists carry around gigantic easels or something?"

Asui just stared at him, her expression a mixture of horror and anger.

Everyone was in awe at Charlie's detailed assumption. Everyone except Teresa. "You're taking wild shots in the dark." She said quietly, "There are so many more ways this could have gone down. Maybe there were two culprits. Maybe Robin killed Elaine, then Asui came along and killed Karah."

"That still doesn't solve how Robin got into Elaine's room." Alistair said, rustling the pages of his notebook, "Asui, however… 'Asui seems like she's been through a lot. She seems suspicious of everyone around her, as if they're going to hurt her. But I want to bring her out of that shell and get her to make friends with Karah, so they can connect at an artistic level. I'd love to get to know Asui more.' Perhaps Asui was gone from the party longer than she claimed."

Silence.

Teresa realized Charlie was looking at her. He seemed quite satisfied with the way things had turned out. As soon as their eyes locked, he gave her a wide grin and mouthed, "Take it away, girlie!"

She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, looking to Monobear. "I want to see a map of the dorms, please."

Monobear's ears twitched in annoyance. "Sheesh, what are you putting me to work for?"

"You're the judge. Finding out the truth should be important to you." Teresa said reasonably, "And if we all die here, then your fun little game of Mutual Killing ends in one swoop."

Monobear hesitated. He sat as still as a statue on his throne. Suddenly, the projector displayed a blown-up image of the dorm map. As soon as it was up, he huffed, "There you go. If you try to manipulate me again, I'm going to have you pay for it!"

Teresa ignored him, drawing everyone's attention to the map. "Look at the room above Blake and Robin's. If Charlie's theory is correct…that's the murderer's room."

All eyes settled on the room in question. A tiny label betrayed whom the dorm belonged to.

Asui and Libra.

"I didn't do it!" Libra burst out, "I was filming during Elaine's murder! I have an alibi!"

"I know…but your roommate doesn't." Teresa said. She looked away, focusing on Asui who was directly across from her. "You're awfully silent, friend…do you have anything to say in your defense?"

For a moment, Asui didn't respond. Her lips seemed to be trying to form words. Everyone's gazes seared her skin. Rage overflowed and the next thing she knew, she was screaming, "I've been defending myself! You idiots just aren't listening! Why would I kill anyone? I'm not a monster! I wouldn't just take a life without feeling any sympathy whatsoever!"

She broke off, panting furiously. She looked wildly around the room, as if daring someone to argue. Gustav began to say something, but she cut him off with a loud string of curses. The short teenager crouched behind his podium, looking like a frightened mouse.

Teresa waited until Asui had finished swearing to speak. She crossed her arms and lowered her head. "Are you sure about that…because I think you would."

A sharp gasp came from her left. Kirby seemed terribly distraught, biting her lip. Her face read, how could you say such a thing? But she knew better than to voice this aloud.

Asui's eyes burned green fire. Her lips drew back in a scowl, but she waited for Teresa to go on.

Teresa realized that this was the moment she had been working towards ever since she became a prosecutor. Her heart pounded with fear. She had imagined this scene in her head so many times, building up her fantasy. What if it didn't live up to her expectations?

But she couldn't hesitate. She would not let this moment pass by. She reached up and whipped off her glasses.

Gustav's dramatic shriek nearly made her cower, but she refused to back down. She held her head high, meeting everyone's eyes with her one, good eye. But they were all looking at her other eye. Charlie's face was screwed up with disgust. Natalie's eyes were flooding with tears. But Teresa refused to hide her face in shame.

Her left eyelid was permanently closed. The skin had been punctured years ago and healed into an unsightly, puckered scar. She had spent many hours just staring at it in a mirror, willing it to go away. She knew what the others were seeing.

Finally, Teresa looked at Asui, who had suddenly become very interested in the floor.

"When I was thirteen, an argument with my best friend resulted in an 'accident.'" The prosecutor said quietly, "I lost the use of my left eye that day, but I also discovered who I was. Because my friend was never punished for her action, I swore I would become a prosecutor and bring all criminals to justice."

Asui lifted her eyes to Teresa's but still didn't say anything.

Teresa went on, directly addressing her. "More than anything, I wanted to take you to court. I wanted to see you punished for what you did to me. And I won't deny that I wanted that punishment to be the death sentence. Thank you, Asui, for making my dream come true. If only you hadn't taken the lives of two other girls to do so."

"Wait, wait, wait! Did Asui really do it?" Noah said, shocked, "And she…she did that to your face?" He winced.

Teresa nodded, slowly slipping her glasses back on.

"Some best friend." Charlie muttered darkly.

"Our friendship was falling apart," Asui growled, "Teresa was talking about me behind my back! She purposely provoked me that day. And I was already in a bad mood to begin with."

"Don't make excuses!" Teresa said passionately, her voice nearly rising to a shriek, "I was trying to salvage our friendship, that's why I suggested we spend a day together in the first place!"

"Yeah, but then you brought the wrong ingredients for our cookies and kept talking about your new friends, like they were so great! I couldn't take it anymore!"

"So you stabbed my eye out! Makes perfect sense!"

"ENOUGH!" Monobear bellowed, his voice filling every corner of the room. Both Teresa and Asui froze. The monochrome bear was on his feet, claws unsheathed. "You bastards have gotten ridiculously off-topic. If you don't do what you came here for, then we're going straight to the voting without finishing the discussion!"

"No, wait! We need more time!" Natalie cried out.

"No, we don't." Teresa murmured. Her gaze had darkened. The fight seemed to have drained out of her and she stood there with her head hanging. "I…think I've managed to piece this together with Asui as the culprit."

"Same here!" Charlie volunteered.

Alistair nodded. "I, as well."

"And me!" Grant added, looking put out. "So much of the evidence points to her, as the SCL Artist. It doesn't help she lied about taking Elaine home and disappeared from the party."

Some began murmuring in agreement, while others just looked lost. "I totally lost track of the conversation." Blake sighed.

Teresa gave a weary smile. "It's fine. I'm happy to explain exactly what happened…"

Climax Inference is up next! Get pumped!